


"Tell Me a Story"

by OtterlyDeerlightful



Series: Lifemates AU [15]
Category: LazyTown
Genre: Bedtime Stories, Domestic Fluff, Enbypreg, Gay dads, Happy Birthday, M/M, Mpreg, Yeah that's more like it, kind of but not really, parenting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-17
Updated: 2019-05-17
Packaged: 2020-03-06 16:17:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,236
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18854602
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OtterlyDeerlightful/pseuds/OtterlyDeerlightful
Summary: It's a special little boy's birthday, and he wants a special bedtime story for the occasion. Robbie is happy to oblige.





	"Tell Me a Story"

**Author's Note:**

> I actually had this written months ago and forgot about it. I didn't post it when I finished simply because I didn't want to give any potential spoilers for Anything to Take Away Your Pain. 
> 
> Hopefully the tags won't squick people away from reading this AU anymore. I've been worried about that since I first started writing AtTAYP simply because I know it can be triggering for some people, and "super gross" to others. But, honestly, if I ever have the opportunity to have a family of my own, I *am* Robbie in a way, so...please don't hate me for writing stories with "mpreg" mentioned or described. If you don't want to see it, that's why I tagged it. But...please just don't leave nasty comments just to say how much you hate it. /paranoia

“Okay, Little Bird. I think it’s time for bed.”

The young boy shook his head defiantly, rubbing one eye as he proclaimed “I’m not sleepy yet!”

Robbie glanced over at Sportacus from where he was washing dishes in the kitchen with Joy. He nodded toward the boy behind him. The hero smiled from where he had been packing away the plethora of leftovers and nodded. The elf set down the plastic container in his hands and flipped over the table to land by their son. The boy still sat in the pile of colorful wrapping paper from earlier that day, surrounded by crayons, books, and an assortment of other fun things. The child looked up at his pabbi with the smallest hint of worry over what might be coming.

“Oh _really_?” Sportacus asked, a skeptical smile on his face. “You’re not tired at all? Even after the party?”

The child shook his head.

“And the presents?”

Another head shake.

“And _dinner_?”

Shake.

“Not even after all that playing?”

The boy hugged his new plush butterfly to his chest, trying and failing to suppress a yawn while still shaking his head in absolute denial. Sportacus did his very best not to chuckle at the child’s antics.

“Wow. All of that sure made _me_ tired,” his pabbi continued. Are you _sure_ you’re not sleepy? Not even a little bit?”

“N-no…?”

Robbie glanced over his shoulder at the pair as he handed another plate to Joy for her to dry. He gave a loud, dramatic sigh to catch everyone’s attention and shook his head in mock disappointment. “Well, that’s too bad!” he called over his shoulder. “Because little boys who go to bed on time tonight get rainbow pancakes in the morning!”

The child’s attention snapped to Sportacus again, his eyes wide and questioning. The hero first gave an innocent shrug in response.

“That’s what I’ve heard,” he confirmed.

The child briefly thought the idea over, licking his lips at the mere thought of his dada’s famous rainbow pancakes, his favorite thing to ever have for breakfast. He swallowed and hugged his toy again.

“M-maybe I’m a _little_ sleepy,” he relented.

“Just a little?” Sportacus teased, gently tickling the boy until he giggled. “Okay, _little sleepy_ , let’s get you to bed, then!”

The hero scooped up his son and stood while Robbie relinquished the responsibility of dishes to their eldest. Joy gave her little brother a wave good-night, which was returned only after the boy made sure that his new plush friend wouldn’t fall if he freed up one of his hands. The couple headed down the short hallway to a little room filled with toys, picture books, and posters, most of which held imagery of butterflies, beetles, and honey bees. Sportacus set him down in bed, making sure the child was carefully tucked in under the fluffy navy blue blanket full of constellations. The little boy loved his bed set, saying so at least once a week. He had never shown much of an interest in astrology, but the spattering of stars reminded him of fireflies, and boy did he love fireflies.

“All settled in?” Sportacus asked as his husband came up to stand beside him.

“Yeah,” the little boy yawned, hugging his butterfly friend again with one hand and pulling the edge of his blanket up to his chin with the other.

“You had a big day today,” Sportacus noted, getting a happy nod in response.

“Pretty sure you have enough toys to drown the entire neighborhood now,” Robbie added teasingly. “Is that one your favorite?”

The child giggled and nodded. “Yeah…”

“What’s his name gonna be?”

The boy looked offended. “She’s a _girl_ , dad!” he cried.

Robbie put a hand on his chest, mouth flapping in faux shock. “Oh—I’m _sorry_ , madam!” he said before giving a slight bow. “My deepest apologies.”

His son giggled at his dada’s theatrics.

“She doesn’t hate me now, does she?” he whispered. “Tell her I’ll make it up to her.”

The boy held out his toy. “She said it’s okay, but you gotta give her a kiss first.”

Robbie happily obliged and the little boy then held out the plush insect to his pabbi next.

“You, too!”

The man nodded. “Of course!” he said, copying his husband and delivering a kiss to the top of the faux butterfly’s head. “It looks like you two are getting to be good friends already.”

His son nodded and pulled his toy back under the blankets with him. “Yeah. Imma name her Flappie. ‘Cause she likes to flap her wings and look real pretty!”

Sportacus couldn’t help but giggle at his son’s enthusiasm. “That sounds like a perfect name for her, then. I’m glad you like her so much.” The elf bent down and kissed the boy’s forehead before giving his sandy brown hair an affectionate ruffle for good measure. “You have a good night’s sleep, okay, Wren?”

“ _Um-hum_! Good night, Pabbi.”

“Good night, Wren.”

The hero stood back up. He glanced to Robbie who, to his surprise, nodded toward the door. Sportacus reached for his hand, giving it a slight squeeze that was quickly returned. The pair leaned in for a chaste kiss before Sportacus’ hand slipped away and the man headed back out to the main hallway. Once alone with his boy, Robbie pulled up one of the child’s comically undersized chairs and sat down by Wren’s bedside.

“Aren’t you going to sleep, too, Dada?” the boy asked. “Don’t you want rainbow pancakes?”

Robbie smiled fondly. “I’ll have some pancakes, don’t you worry about that, Little Bird.”

The boy snuggled into his pillow and sighed as his father quietly watched him, the man’s face slowly contorting as his mind ran through a laundry list of memories and emotions.

“Dada?” the child asked before a grand yawn. “Can you tell me a story?”

The man’s face finally settled on a warm smile. “A story?”

“Yeah!”

“Well, I suppose there’s still _just_ enough time for a story where you can still get to sleep in time for those pancakes.”

The young child’s eyes lit up with excitement.

“What kind of story does my little bird want to hear?”

“A birthday story!” the boy cried.

Robbie held back a laugh. “A _birthday_ story. Well, I wonder why you’d want _that_.”

The little boy giggled. “Because it’s my birthday, Dada, you know that!”

The man feigned surprise. “Is _that_ why we had that big party today?” he asked. “Well I guess that explains why we sang Happy Birthday to you when that cake came out,” he teased, reveling in seeing the little one giggle so much. “So… _hmm_ …do you want _a_ birthday story, or _the_ birthday story?”

Wren quieted himself. “What’s the difference?”

“Well,” Robbie sighed, hands slapping his knees as he spoke. “ _A_ birthday story could be just about anything…fuzzy animals, space aliens, you name it. But, _The_ birthday story…that one’s all true.”

The boy gasped in delighted anticipation. “Oh! I want the true one!”

Robbie gave a soft chuckle. “I though you might.” He tried to readjust himself in his chair to find some semblance of comfort. “So, where should I begin?” he asked aloud.

Wren gave his father a teasing smile. “The _beginning_ , Dada!”

Robbie hit his palm to his forehead. “Of course! Why didn’t _I_ think of that?”

The boy giggled again at how silly his dada could be sometimes. He watched as the man settled in and tried to organize his thoughts.

“Well,” Robbie began quietly, immediately commanding his son’s attention. “Once upon a time, there were two men. One of them was tall, dashing, and an absolute genius. The other one was far too silly and liked eating disgusting things like apples and peaches. _Bleh_.”

Wren snickered.

“I assume you’re laughing at how anyone could eat something so horrible and not about how the handsome one was a bonified genius. Because he is.”

Wren covered his mouth with his little hands and waited for Robbie to continue.

“Well, somehow, despite their _many_ differences, these two men fell in love and got married and they were very, very happy together. One day, the handsome one of the two found out he was pregnant—that means they were going to have a baby.”

The questioning look on Wren’s face immediately vanished once his dada explained what the new word meant. The boy gave a small “oh.”

“Well, the handsome man was a little…he was _pretty scared_ when he found out—”

“Why?”

“Because he’d never been pregnant before. Most boys can’t have babies in the first place.”

“Why not?”

Robbie paused. “Uh…I’ll explain it to you when you’re a little older, maybe next birthday. One story at a time.”

“Okay.”

“Anyway, he was very scared. His husband—the silly flippy overly healthy one—he did his best to make him feel better, but really, neither of them knew what to expect. They were scared, sure, but they were a excited, too, because they didn’t think they would get to have any more kids. They were _really_ excited when they went to see a doctor, and she was able to show them an ultrasound of the baby.”

“What’s a ultrahound?”

“An _ultrasound_ is where they can put something on your belly and, if there’s a baby inside, they can show you a picture of it.”

The boy’s eyes lit up. “You got a baby, right? Are _you_ gonna get a ultrahound?”

Robbie felt almost embarrassed as his hand drifted to his stomach, not liking how tight the fabric of his pants felt this early on. Still, he hid away his reservations and gave the little boy a nod. “I will, very soon.”

“And I’ll be able to see the baby picture?” he asked hopefully.

“Of course you will,” his father reassured him. “But it won’t look like a baby just yet because it’s still growing. It’ll look like the picture the two men saw, so don’t get too excited.”

“What’d their picture look like?” the boy asked curiously.

“Like a little blurry jellybean.”

“A _jelly bean_?”

“Yup, the baby was that tiny!”

“Wow.”

Robbie nodded again in mild agreement. “The handsome man didn’t feel as scared when he saw that little jelly bean picture. It made him really happy instead. So happy that I hear he still has that picture in his wallet, and he likes to take it out sometimes to look at it and remember how happy he felt the first time he got to see it.

“The handsome man started getting fat and he and his flippy-floppy husband were both thrilled and nervous and wanted to get everything set up for when the baby finally came. They had lists of names everywhere, they built new rooms on their house to make sure everyone had a space of their own, they read just about every baby book they could find, and they bought so many diapers and bottles and clothes that they were sure the piles might cause an indoor avalanche! The handsome man even started eating healthier food to make sure the baby got everything it needed to grow big and strong, even if some of it tasted yucky.”

“That sounds like a lot of work.”

“It _was_ , but they knew it would all be worth it once the baby came.

“One day, they went to the doctor for a checkup and a new ultrasound, because the baby had grown a _lot_ and everyone wanted to see just how much, especially because it should start looking more like a baby now than a little ol’ jelly bean. The, uh..the…” Robbie’s voice faltered a moment. “The doctor didn’t seem as happy as she had the last time they were there, so they asked her why.

“She said that the picture didn’t, uh, didn’t look quite right. As much as the baby had grown, she said that it was actually a bit smaller than she thought it would be, and it looked like o-one of the legs wasn’t forming right.”

Wren listened intently with wide eyes. Robbie, who was suddenly lacking the smile he had held just moments before, diverted his eyes for a second to gather himself. He stared at the boy’s starlit comforter and let out a small sigh before raising his gaze again and continuing.

“They were both…scared again. I—er, um…the, uh, _the handsome man_ was especially worried. He thought m-maybe it was his fault somehow. That maybe he had done something wrong, or that it was some magic he had used before he had gotten pregnant, or…maybe it was just because he was _him_.” Robbie swallowed. “B-but…his stupid flippy husband promised him that things would be okay, so he did his best to believe him and make sure he did everything he could to protect their little baby in his belly.”

“ _Were_ things okay, Dada?” the child asked, his voice barely a whisper.

Robbie felt a sting in his chest, though he gave the boy a reassuring smile and leaned over to gently caress Wren’s cheek, one of the boy’s favorite types of contact. “Yeah, they’re okay.” The man gave his son’s nose a tender poke. “But don’t get ahead of the story.”

Wren gave a relieved giggle and pulled his blanket back up to his small chin.

“The man worried about their baby. They weren’t entirely sure how they were going to play with the other kids, or if anything else might be wrong that they couldn’t see yet because he was still in the handsome man’s belly. They both like to fix things, you see, and they didn’t like not knowing how to help their baby if the little guy needed it.

“But, the baby decided that he didn’t need any help after all. If he could have talked back then, I’m sure he would have told his dada and his pabbi that he was just fine and could handle things all by himself.” Robbie gave his son a fond smile as he spoke. “He kept on growing, getting bigger and stronger and making his dada eat all that gross healthy food every day. One day, I guess he decided that he was ready and didn’t want to wait in the handsome man’s belly anymore and wanted to come out instead!

“The two men went to the hospital when they realized their baby was coming. It took a few hours…but, uh, but the baby was finally born and everybody got to meet him. He was tiny—” Robbie gently poked the child’s nose. “And adorable. And perfect. Once the two men saw just how perfect he was, both of them realized why the baby only had one leg. Any more perfection in such a tiny person would have just been overkill. The handsome man was the first to point that out because, like I said, he’s a genius.”

The little boy giggled, cheeks swelling with joy as his dada kissed him and ruffled his hair before he gently stroked his face.

“And the realized that the baby boy—their Little Bird—didn’t need that leg at all anyway. He played with all the kids just fine, he loved exploring everywhere he went, and he even managed to tire out his flippy-floppy pabbi, which no one had even thought possible before that little jelly bean arrived!” Robbie brushed his long fingers along the boy’s chubby little cheek and sighed, smiling. “He was everything they had hoped for and more.”

Wren smiled knowingly, practically vibrating under his blankets when he asked “What’d they _name_ him, Dada?”

Robbie chuckled. “Well, he _loved_ creepy crawly little bugs. Every kind you can imagine! He could spot them from a mile away and was so good at catching them that the two men almost thought maybe their little bird really _was_ part bird sometimes!”

“Dada, that’s silly!”

“—So, they named him Wren. And they love him _so_ so much. And—don’t quote me on this—I think he might be getting rainbow pancakes tomorrow morning.”

The little boy grinned from ear to ear.

“And his big sister might even have a surprise for him, too, since she couldn’t join them for the big birthday party that happened today. But only if he goes to sleep!”

Wren gasped and shut his eyes instantly. He shoved his face into his pillow as though the force of it alone would make him fall asleep faster.

“Good night, my little bird,” Robbie said  softly as he got up to leave, his back making a soft popping sound as he lifted himself from the undersized chair.

“Nigh’, Da’ah,” came a muffled response from the pillow.

The former villain kissed the top of the little boy’s head, whispering a gentle “I love you.” He crossed the room and quietly closed the bedroom door behind him.

“I really liked that story.”

Robbie looked up to see Sportacus waiting nearby, a slight tear in his eye. Robbie met it with a content smile. “Yeah, me too.” He uttered a small sigh, his smile shrinking ever so slightly. “Wh-what if _this_ baby…?”

Sportacus shushed him with a delicate kiss to the corner of his husband’s downturning mouth. “They will be loved and cared for and everyone will adore them,” he reassured his love.

Robbie nodded as Sportacus took him by the hand and gently guided him back toward the kitchen, though his brow was still knit tightly with worry.

“But what if it _was_ because of me, and…?”

“Robbie,” Sportacus said in a stern, yet gentle voice, stopping the man and making Robbie look him in the eye. “Tell me. What’s wrong with Wren?” he asked softly, his mustache giving the slightest twitch.

Robbie looked at him like he was crazy. “His…his leg, and his lungs, and—”

“What’s _wrong_ with him?” Sportacus asked again.

Robbie stared.

“Is Wren happy?”

The villain nodded.

“If he loved?”

Robbie’s confused expression melted into a thankful smile as he took the elf’s hand. “Of course.”

“Is he wanting for anything?”

Robbie snickered. “Maybe a puppy.”

That made Sportacus give a small laugh. “Wren is fine, Robbie. He…has a few more challenges than other kids, yes, but he’s happy. We’ve made sure he’s as healthy as can be and he won’t miss out on anything. The doctors weren’t even sure what caused it, so don’t blame yourself for him being a little different, alright?”

“It’s hard not to.”

Sportacus embraced the man. “I know. I…worry it might have been from me sometimes, too. B-but then I see him laugh and…I know it’ll be okay. And no matter what, this baby will be okay, too, alright?”

Robbie nodded. He pulled back to gently wipe at the corner of his eye, though he was definitely not crying at all. “Y-yeah. You’re right.”

“Today was a good day,” Sportacus said, his voice suddenly a much more chipper tone.

“It was,” Robbie agreed. “In a _loud_ sort of way…”

Sportacus chuckled as they resumed walking.

“Did Nadía manage to get those museum tickets for tomorrow?”

Sportacus nodded. “ _And_ tickets to the visiting rainforest collection, from what she said earlier.”

Robbie’s eyes sparkled at the happy visions that flooded his mind. “That boy’s going to be in hog heaven with all those creepy crawlies.”

The hero laughed and gave Robbie’s hand a squeeze. “Yeah, yeah he is.”

**Author's Note:**

> Wren doesn't have anything specific, per say. Sometimes a fetus just doesn't grow correctly and things happen. The kiddo doesn't let it stop him, though, and he's definitely inherited Sporty's energy. Which makes his dads admittedly nervous because his lungs are a little weak as well. Again, that's not about to stop him. :)


End file.
